The Ferocity of the Human Spirit
by thatpyroisaspy
Summary: Armed to the teeth, a masked man only known as Chromeskull sees The Crystal Gems as a threat to humanity and seeks to eliminate them including Steven. However Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl are not worried, a human being obviously holds no threat to Gems...right?
1. Chromeskull

It was a bright and sunny day in the small but modest town of Twilight Valley, it was the middle of Spring and everyone in the town was happily doing their own thing, on the sidewalk a man walked carrying grocery bags from an army surplus store known as "The Sergeant's Stash". The man was Caucasian and was muscular built so much that he looked as if their wasn't an ounce of fat in his body, he looked like he was in his late forties with greying hair. Some of the people walking about the town would stare at him with concerned looks on their faces, a teenage couple whispered to each other about undesirable rumors concerning him. As he walked up to his home, which was a fairly large and normal looking white house with a pink roof. His elderly neighbor who was mowing his backyard looked up and noticed him.

"James? James!" the elderly man said in a pleasantly surprised manner. Causing the man to turn around with a slight scowl on his face.

"James Valentine, I haven't seen you out of your den in ages! How are you doing?" he said cheerfully, the man's scowl washed away.

"Oh, hello Carl I'm doing just fine, just getting some stuff from the Army surplus shop." His voice, though sounding as if he smokes two packs a day, spoke in a cheerful manner.

"Ah, I see. The war is never over after all!" Carl said jokingly.

"You're telling me!" Valentine said as he opened his front door. "Well, take it easy Carl."

"You to sonny-jim!" he laughed as he went back to work.

Valentine closed the door behind him, he sighed in an angry yet tired manner as he walked though his living room and it was a complete contrast to the virtually perfect day outside dark, depressing and no light. The room was littered with newspapers all with headlines considering the team of alien heroes that the whole Earth knew as The Crystal Gems. Valentine angrily stomped over to a work bench fitted with a gun rack. It contained firearms of all kinds ranging in different sizes and types accompanying those were also a variety of knives, a map with pinpointed and highlighted destinations including a large red circle over an area of the map labeled as "Beach City" and multiple candid photos of the gems including the half human gem, Steven Universe. The man placed the bags filled with hundreds of dollars' worth of ammo and rations on his red couch.

"My name is not James Valentine, my real name is of no importance, what's really important is my mission." The man monologued to himself as he loaded the multiple firearms with ammo and placed blades in the satchels of his belt.

"Mankind is getting weaker emotionally and physically by the day, why? Because the so called heroes known as the "Crystal Gems" have stripped us away of our independence, making us think we need THEM to protect us but we don't need protectors, especially not if their alien monsters!"

The man suited himself up in a large military grade jacket in black and silver camouflage fixed with multiple pockets and holsters; he continued to endow himself with steel shoulder pads, kneepads and a steel chrome bullet proof vest. He walked over to the work bench again and tightened the screws of one of the two seemingly high tech, steel gauntlets which looked skeletal in appearance, once he was finished he placed them over his hands and tightened them into firm fists.

"These…egotistical rocks have the mentality that they are better than us, so enthralled in their false sense of superiority that they have the audacity to act as if we are still caveman banging sticks against walls."

"They think they're deities that we should place our undying loyalty to because they THINK their stronger, but I'll prove them wrong! I have spent thirty years of my life learning multiple forms of martial arts, twenty of those years I've also spent as a Special forces officer in the U.S Marines and I've invented new forms of weaponry, weapons designed specifically to combat these super powered beings."

The armor and weapon clad man sat in front of blade sharpener, he sharpened a large, sharp Longsword stopping only to test the sharpness with his metal clad fingers. He continued to hone the blade, wanting it to be at its peak perfection. Just like him.

"Humanity doesn't need protectors, for centuries we have evolved and fought to become something great, we have survived all on our own, overcome our own endeavors and yet these gems have such a low opinion of us, they see us as CHILDREN, children that need supervision, to have their hands held and guided but they are wrong!"

The militarized man only got angrier as he dug a sharp combat knife into the photo of the gem known as Pearl, he walked to a closet located in his living room and opened it to reveal a helmet made entirely out of chrome, it had the appearance of a human skull with the right eyehole missing, a black X instead took it's placed. He placed the helmet on his head and secured it. The heavily armed man placed the two last items on his back in an X formation. A large sniper rifle and the Longsword.

"The Crystal Gems must learn that the ferocity of the human spirit should be feared and respected. They must learn that mankind is in no need of false protectors that think so little of them."

"And I, Chromeskull will be their instructor."


	2. The Warning

It was a sunny, warm and crisp day in Beach City and all the residents were all busy doing their own thing. Mayor Dewey was doing another public speech, Sadie and Lars were working at the Big Donut and Onion was getting into trouble, south of the dock area of Beach City was the famed Temple of Rose, home to the Crystal Gems and Steven Universe. Outside the temple was Steven and his friend Connie who were resting on a towel on the beach, having lunch. There was also multiple books scattered all around them all concerned the topics of space and extra-terrestrial life.

"So, Steven if the gems are aliens, do you think theirs more intelligent life living out their in the vast cosmos, living on other planets pondering the same questions we are?" Connie asked with great interest. Steven pondered her question for a second.

"Hmmm, I think that's a question for the gems, if theirs anyone that would know the answer to that it's probably them." Steven answered.

"Then let's go ask them! I've become so intrigued by the thought of other Extra-terrestrial life since the invasion that I've been studying up on it for quite some time." Connie said excitedly

"Hehehe, yeah I can see that!" Steven said as he picked up one Connie's many books.

"Whoa, are you guys studying for a big test or something?" the two friends looked behind them to see the none other then Jamie the mailman.

"Jamie!" Steven expressed with excitement as he ran up to him. "I didn't know I was getting a package today…or are you just here to say hi?"

"Nope, I got a special package just for you." Jamie said as he searched around in his mail bag. He took out a small, rectangular brown package with a single stamp on it.

"Who is it from?" Steven asked as he took the package from Jamie's hands.

"I have no idea, the stamp said it's from Twilight Valley but that's all I know." Jamie explained.

"Twilight Valley?" Steven questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of Twilight Valley!" Connie chimed in. "it's super far away from here and even though it's a pretty small town it's gotten famous for it's fantastic Halloween parades and festivals."

"Awesome!" Steven exclaimed as he ripped the brown packaging what he found profoundly confused both him and Connie, it was a single VHS tape, black with a white front sticker with "PLAY ME" written on with bold, black marker.

"Play Me?" Steven and Connie said in unison , they both ran towards the temple to tell the gems of the strange package. Leaving Jamie behind on the beach alone.

"Um…okay I'll just be going now!" Jamie yelled. He sighed as he walked to his next destination.

Inside of the temple Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst were discussing an important matter, one considering Homeworld.

"I mean, just what are we suppose to do if a Diamond comes here? We were barely able to defeat one soldier and a technician let alone a Diamond and a whole armada!" Pearl said with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Trust me Pearl, I'm worried too," Garnet spoke up in her usual monotone voice. "The Diamond Sisters are feared not just on Homeworld but throughout the galaxy as well for their strength and dominating power." Garnet explained, making Pearl feel only worse. Amethyst hasn't said a peep thought-out the conversation, she doesn't know who any of the Diamonds are besides what very little Rose and the others have told her. So she felt like all she could do is to just sit backwards on one of the kitchen stools and listen until…

"Um, so what makes these Diamond jerks so big and mean anyways? I don't get it." Amethyst said masking her concerns with a angry and impatient tone. Pearl sighed, not in anger or distain but in sadness. She walked up to Amethyst and cupped one of her hands with hers. Making Amethyst look at her with confusion.

"Amethyst, I don't expect you to understand sense you weren't born or raised in Homeworld plus me, Garnet and Rose didn't help by not telling you everything but…the Diamond sisters rule Homeworld for a good reason…they're strong…they're ruthless…they're-

*SLAM*

"GUYS! GUYS!" Steven yelled as he flung the door open, causing the gems to instantly drop their conversation and look towards Steven and Connie's direction.

"Steven, what's wrong?" Garnet said with the others to his side.

"Jamie came to give me a package a-a-and it's this really weird video tape!" Steven said giving the tape to Pearl.

"Play me?" Pearl said with a confused look on her face. "Do we even own a VHS player?"

"TOTALLY!" Amethyst yelled with glaring excitement which caused Pearl to almost drop the tape in surprise.

"I got fifty-two of them in my room, all of different years and models, I'll go get them!" Amethyst ran towards her room's door to get a player for the tape.

"Make sure to only bring ONE!" Pearl yelled. She looked back at the tape she had in her hand and held her chin in a contemplative manner.

"So what do you think is one the tape Pearl? I've already developed several theories" Connie said looking at the tape in Pearl's hand.

"I simply don't know, I hope it's nothing…undesirable. Especially for you and Steven's sakes." Pearl said blushing wildly.

Suddenly Amethyst's room door dematerialized again with the Earth born gem running out with a VHS player with tangled wires and inputs raised up above her head.

"TADAAAA!" Amethyst proudly sang as she placed it on the floor and stood in a victorious stance.

"You couldn't have brought one that doesn't have all the wires tangled up?" questioned Pearl.

"It's like this on all of them." Amethyst said with a smile. Pearl sighed tiredly and went to work untangling them. Finally with the VHS player set Pearl hooked it to Steven's television, Connie and Steven waited with baited breaths as Pearl stuck the tape into the player. Before Pearl could press play she looked back at the children and frowned nervously.

"Um, children I think you should advert your gaze until we say so, Theirs no telling what could be on this tape." Pearl said with concern.

"Aw come on Pearl, how bad can it be?" Steven said with clueless optimism. Pearl shook her head.

"Garnet?" Pearl noted Garnet, she responded by grabbing Connie and Steven by the colors of their shirts and simply turned around.

"Oh come one!" Connie sighed with dismay.

"Garnet!" whined Steven.

"Just until I know it's okay alright?" Garnet said reassuring the children.

Pearl pressed the play button the screen, for a few moments was nothing but static, then a loud, ear piercing screeching noise came from the speakers causing everyone, except for Garnet who seemed unfazed by the noise to place their hands over their ears.

"AAAAAAH! What. The. HECK!" Amethyst yelled, her white hair standing on end.

The noise stopped and the screen showed a very muscular, armored man wearing a skull shaped helmet, the video quality was awful but it was good enough to see the intimidating figure sitting in a large chair in a crouched stance with his fingers intertwined.

"What in the world!?" Pearl said, absolutely flabbergasted by the man in the video. Steven spun himself around to see the man on his TV screen.

"Whoa! Who is that guy!?" Steven said with shock as he spun back.

"Darn, my ultimate strategy has been foiled." Garnet said as she dropped Steven and Connie, the two ran up to the front of the TV with Pearl and Amethyst who were both just as confused as them.

"Hello Crystal Gems you don't know me but I know you." The man, unbeknownst to the gems was named Chromeskull said in his deep, raspy voice.

"For far too long have you been crippling mankind's faith in their own strength and capabilities by acting as their protectors, I don't know if you honestly think your doing the right thing or if your doing this to inflate your own egos and false sense of superiority but that doesn't matter." Chromeskull said as he angrily pounded the arm of his chair.

"Humanity does not need any divine protectors, we are more then capable of taking care of ourselves, but I don't expect you to realize that, so this is why I'm taking matters into my own hands…"

"I'm coming for you Crystal Gems!" Chromeskull yelled causing the lines on the screen from the poor quality camera to spike in size for a second. Steven and Connie looked at each other with scared looks on their faces. Pearl backed away from the screen.

"Since I'm feeling generous, I'm going to give you warnings." Chromeskull picked a playing card from his jacket and revealed that it had a drawing of a realistic human skull with an X over the right eye cavity.

"These skulls will signify my presence, the closer the skulls are to your base, the closer I will be."

"Pray for yourselves gems, because it's judgment day." Chromeskull then picked a gun out from his holster and pointed it at his camera.

*BANG*

"AH!" the loud noise from the gun made both Connie and Steven jump. Both still having faces ridden with fear.

"Um…g-g-guys." Steven said with fright but before Steven could say the rest of what he wanted to say. Pearl and Amethyst started to howl with laughter.

"What!?" both Steven and Connie said in unison.

"Why are you guys laughing!?" Connie questioned frantically with Steven practically in tears.

"HAHAHAHAHA…ha, oh my goodness, I-I'm so sorry hehehehehe, it's just…who is that man trying to scare!? Haha!" Pearl answered trying to hold in here laughter, it was the loudest that anyone has heard her laugh. Amethyst was also on the ground rolling with laughter, even Garnet couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah!" Amethyst chimed in. She shapeshifted into Chromeskull but with a much goofier cartoon skull face with crossed eyes and a large tongue sticking out.

"Look at me, I'm Edgy McEdgerson and I think I can kill gems because I spent all night making this Cosplay!" Amethyst taunted causing Pearl to laugh again, to everyone's knowledge this was the first time Pearl has really laughed at any of Amethyst's jokes.

"STOP IT!" Steven yelled out from the top of his lungs, everyone instantly stopped and saw that Steven was in distraught with tears and snot running down his face. Causing Amethyst to turn back into her original form.

Pearl gasped, walked up to him and went down to his level to put her hands on his shoulders and comfort him.

"Steven…are you okay?" Pearl asked with the deepest concern.

"N-n-n-no, That scary guy…just threatened our lives *sniff* and all you guys can do is laugh!?" Steven said trying his hardest to hold back tears. Pearl gave him a reassuring smile.

"Steven, we're gems remember? And that man is just a mortal human being." Pearl said in a comforting tone. Steven wiped some of his tears from his face.

"There are a lot of things that can't hurt Gems Steven and humans are at the top of that list…or would it be the bottom?"

"But…I can still get hurt, by a lot of things." Steven said with wide eyes.

"Which is why you have us Steven." Garnet walked up to his side and kneeled down.

"That man is a joke to us because we know he can't do anything to us but, the second he tries to hurt you, that's when we take it seriously." Garnet said pounding her fist into her open hand making Steven feel much better.

"Yeah dude, you got nothing to worry about! Once this weirdo sees how awesome we are he'll run away with his pants down." Amethyst walked up to him to whisper in his ear.

"And I'm the one who's gonna pull his pants down." she whispered making Steven laugh.

Steven and the gems all went into a group hug, Connie looked at them with a adoring look on her face. They released themselves from their embrace and Pearl ejected the tape from the VCR. And threw it straight into the trash. Dusting off her hands afterwards.

"Hey Steven." Connie spoke to Steven seeing that he's calmed down. "I thought of the idea of going around and asking people if they think theirs other life in the universe like the gems! Do you want to do that?"

"That's a great idea Connie! Let's go do that." Steven said excited with all of his worries washed away.

Pearl exhaled happily knowing that Steven was feeling better about the situation considering the masked man, Pearl and the others knew he was no threat to Steven as long as they were around.

"Pearl" Garnet motioned her to another group meeting. "We have more important matters to talk about."

"Oh right…the Diamonds." Pearl sighed as she was forced into a another uncomfortable conversation.

Steven and Connie were both running downtown of Beach City. Connie with a notepad in hand to write down people's names and their opinions.

"So who do you think we should ask first Steven?" Connie asked as she and Steven continued to run.

"Let's go ask my dad first, he's right up ahead!"

"NO! nohohohoho, this is a disaster!" the duo were immediately stopped by the cries of Mayor Dewey himself. They saw him on the side of his van kneeling in distraught and whining in his palms. They ran over to see what was wrong.

"Mayor Dewey, what's wrong!?" Steven asked the distraught politician.

"Oh, Steven it's horrible, some punk teenagers scribbled some…anarchist symbol on the side of my van, do you have any idea how this affect my campaign? Cause' I DON'T!" Dewey said frantically as he shook Steven back and forth. Connie walked in to the side of the van that Dewey was kneeling before. She gasped and dropped her notepad.

"S-S-Steven…" Connie fearfully called out his name. Steven walked to her side and yelled in terror.

It was a painting of a chrome colored, human skull with a black X over it's eye cavity.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: The Signs**


	3. The Signs

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Steven dug his hands into his hair in panic as he stared at the skull on Mayor Dewey's van. Connie cupped her mouth with her hand as she looked at the skull and Steven in disbelief.

"Th-th-that guy is already here!?" Connie fearfully asked as she went to Steven's side.

"What guy?" Mayor Dewey stopped crying to ask.

"Th-Theirs this assassin after me and the gems and he said that if we see these skulls it means his here!" Steven said holding back tears.

"WHAT!? Theirs an assassin, in Beach City!?" Mayor Dewey said in panic as he sweated profusely. He looked back at Steven with a concerned stare. "and he's after you?" Dewey questioned as he started to pace.

"I got to tell the gems that he's here!" Steven said letting Dewey process the situation.

"Good idea, let's go!" Connie said as she started to run but Steven grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Connie, you have to go home!" Steven said still holding Connie's arm.

"What? But Steven I-"

"No buts." Steven interrupted. "I don't know what this scary guy is capable of but he might see you as a threat to his mission and hurt you…plus he has something against me and the gems so it's our business." Steven said with the utmost seriousness. Connie considered his words for a moment and nodded she ran home, Steven heading the other way for the temple. Steven heavily as he ran, as he got closer to the temple he saw that their was skull paintings in places he didn't notice at first. Their was one in an alley, one painted on the road, on the side of the arcade and one on the Big Donut's dumpster which left Sadie to cleaning up. Steven's anxiety only increased every time he saw the skull. Steven got to the beach and fell to his knees in exhaustion.

*huff* *puff* *huff*

"Alright…come on Stevie, The gems are at a mission but you can get them back with the warp whistle, then you can tell them about the man, they'll scare him off and you can live happily ever after!" Steven said with tired optimism.

"Good plan."

"Thanks!" Steven's optimism was instantly replaced with paralyzing fear after he said that. A deep raspy voice, one he didn't recognized complimented him. He looked to his left to see none other then Chromeskull sitting on top of a large boulder.

"AHHHHH!" Steven yelled as he tried to run to the temple but was stopped by a gunshot that was just mere inches from hitting his foot, he covered his eyes from the sand the bullet caused to shoot up and quickly looked back at assailant with a smoking gun in his hand. He jumped from the boulder and landed on his feet right behind Steven, causing him to stagger and land on his back.

"Ah! Who are you, why are you doing this!?" Steven yelled with fear.

"I am Chromeskull and you gems are a threat to mankind's greatest aspect, their strength! I'm not going to let complicate us any further, either the gems go back to they're planet with your own kind, or I'll get rid of then myself, which includes you Hybrid!" Chromeskull said as his anger increased, Steven looked at him with wide eyes, he knew he was half gem so their was no telling what else he knew about him or the gems. Chromeskull cocked his gun and pointed at Steven but before he or Chromeskull could do anything…

"RAAAAWR!" A loud roar was heard as a pink sonar blasted Chromeskull, causing him to be blown back a long distance, he however was able to get his momentum back and land on his feet.

"LION!" Steven yelled and he hugged the large pink cat's mane in relief. Lion kept a pouncing stance as he angrily growled at the armored man. Chromeskull dusted off the sand from his body and angrily stared at the lion and Steven with his one visible eye.

"Hmmm, so this is the cat that I saw in the newspapers with the others, didn't hear anything about it having concussive roars…no matter, I'll take care of this pussycat and then I'm coming after you and you're posse hybrid!" Chromeskull said pointing at Steven. Steven continued to sweat as he hugged Lion and stared at Chromeskull, he wasn't sure if he was insane or if he actually knew what he was talking about, Steven hoped that it was the former. Still, Steven had fate in Lion as he ran towards the temple. Chromeskull didn't try to shoot at him or anything all of his concentration was on Lion. The two stared each other down as Steven ran up to the door and got inside the temple Steven's heart was practically shooting out of his chest, he crouched down and looked through the window seeing that Chromeskull and Lion haven't moved from their spots.

"Come here kitty, good kitty." Chromeskull said in a condescending tone as he patted his knees. Lion, as if he understood what he said ran towards Chromeskull, roared and pounced Chromeskull ducked under the Lion just in time, grabbed a circular object from his jacket and quickly stuck it to Lion's underbelly. Lion noticed this and looked under his stomach. A red light in the middle of the object started to blink rapidly and before Lion could react a large explosion engulfed him. The explosion was so loud that the people at Beach City's docks could have heard it.

"LION!" Steven yelled. After a few seconds, Lion jumped out of the cloud of smoke and sand and pounced towards Chromeskull. Steven was relieved that he was fine but he noticed that he was covered in scratches. Chromeskull, able to evade Lion again took out two pistols and started to shoot at him.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Chromeskull unleashed a semi-automatic flurry of bullets from his guns, Lion ran to the left adjacent from Chromeskull with the bullets coming up right behind him.

*Click* *Click* *Click* *Click* *Click*

"Shit." Chromeskull quietly cursed to himself as he placed his guns back into two of his many holsters knowing very well he couldn't reload faster then a Lion-like creature can pounce. Lion roared again, Chromeskull was ready to avoid it but the sonic roar opened a hole in the middle of the air and Lion jumped into it disappearing right before his eyes.

"What!?" Chromeskull ran from his position and looked frantically in all directions, confused by the periwinkle predator's disappearance. Before he could react a portal opened up from behind him and Lion's large claws clawed into his shoulder pads leaving marks and causing him to stagger as he disappeared into another portal in front of him. Chromeskull looked to his left shoulder pad and saw the deep claw marks.

"Teleportation and strong enough to cut through pure chrome…impressive." Chromeskull ironically complemented his opponent, Chromeskull wised up to Lion's teleport attack and held his fists up expecting another assault. He walked around, looked behind his back every so often. Lion jumped through another portal and swiped with his claws, Chromeskull blocked and was able to keep his stance from the attack but Lion's claws still left deep marks into his armor and jacket. Lion disappeared into another portal. This process repeated a few more times until Chromeskull came up with an idea. He grabbed two Automatic machine guns, aimed the guns at the ground and started to shoot, the sand shooting up into the air in a brown mist, Chromeskull then started to spin in place, not stopping the onslaught of lead causing more and more sand to shoot up in a blending spiral.

"RAAAWR!" Lion roared as he escaped from another portal, he was surprised to see that the attacker wasn't there, infact he couldn't see much of anything, sand restricted Lion's vision forcing him to squint, he tried sniffing to track him through smell but sand particles was the only thing that could enter his nose causing him to sneeze. Lion walked around the sand dune trying to wait it out then a beeping noise, one he recognized activated he looked to the ground to see a blinking red light.

*BOOM*

An explosion caused even more sand to rise into the air in a brown mist, the amount of sand was so large that it practically buried lion, he shook it off and backed away, another beeping noise was triggered and another spout of sand shot into the air. Then another beeping noise, then another and another. So much sand was being thrown into the air from the mines that it made Lion feel like he was into the middle of a sandstorm. Lion become so enraged that he shot multiple sonic roars in all different directions and escaping from the peering out of the misty mass.

"What's going on in there!?" Steven questioned with great concern as he watched from behind the window of the temple.

Back in the sand dune. Lion finally stopped roaring, he panted with tired breath as he struggled to see through the now deeper veil of sand. Unbeknownst to Lion a large black figure was creeping behind him. It jumped on top of him and wrapped it's large arms around Lion's neck. Lion panicked as he ran forwards, he escaped out of the blinding mass with Chromeskull right on top of him.

"You think you're the only one that can play mind games!?" Chromeskull screamed as he kept his iron grip onto Lion with one arm, with his other arm he took out a long rod from his leg, he pressed a button on it and the top exploded with blue electricity, he violently smacked the electric baton on the side of Lion's hindquarters. Lion roared with pain, he fought and bucked like a bull then with all of his might, Lion bit right into Chromeskull's arm and drew blood.

"AAAAAAH!" Chromeskull yelled with pain as he dropped his baton. Lion pulled his arm with force and threw him off from his back. Chromeskull landed on his floor but got back up holding his arm in pain, he looked to see that blood was profusely pouring from his arm.

"Ugh…whatever, I've had worse." Chromeskull got up, he and Lion stared each other with death in their eyes. Lion ran towards him but stopped and fell to forward. A great pain burned in Lion's legs making harder for him to run, multiple scratches across his body started to bleed with white blood. Chromeskull however, despite all of the punishment ran towards him with great speed and tackled the big cat. Him and Lion violently wrestled on the beach floor, Lion clawed and attempted to bite at Chromeskull. Chromeskull repeatedly punched Lion in the snout, he hit Lion so hard that white blood started to slightly pour from his nose and mouth.

With a final punch with his metal fist he hit Lion with so much force that he flew off a few inches away from Chromeskull and landed on his side. Before he was able to get back up Chromeskull wrapped his muscular arms around his fur endowed neck and started to squeeze tight Lion roared a sonic blast from his mouth trying to get away but the armored militant wouldn't let go. Lion attempted to rise and fight back further but as he was getting up, Chromeskull kicked his knee causing his leg to collapse and forcing him down. Chromeskull squeezed more and more until Lion started to chough up white blood, a much more vigorous amount then before, he eyes started to become white as he coughed more. Steven stared in utter distraught.

"NO LION, LION FIGHT BACK!" Steven yelled as loud as he can, pounding the window's glass as tears ran down his face.

"LION-"

 ***CRACK***

Steven went silent from the loud cracking sound. Lion dropped to the floor like a doll, completely lifeless. Chromeskull finally let go and got up, he placed his hands on his knees as he crouched down trying to catch his breath. His camouflaged suit was ripped off in multiple places, showing huge claw marks. Chromeskull tiredly turned around and headed for the Temple stairs but he was stopped by a whirring sound, he looked back to see that Lion's body was engulfed in a bright, white light then.

Poof!

Lion exploded in a large cloud of white smoke, the only thing that was left behind was a small ball of pink fluff. Chromeskull ignored the disappearance and strange object and walked back up the stairs, he reached to his back and pulled his sharp, longsword out from it's scabbard and held it in front of him. Once he got to the door he curled his free hand into a fist and angrily pounded the door.

"Honey, I'm home!" Chromeskull yelled with insane delight as he chop the door straight through the middle with his sword. He walked into the temple with the door in two halves behind him. The battle hardened man breathed heavy as he scanned the room. Their was no sight of Steven anywhere.

"Come out Hybrid, Theirs no point in hiding!" Chromeskull angrily yelled as he held his sword out.

No response.

"RAAAAH!" Chromeskull yelled as he held his sword up high, with both hands on the handle he sliced the tall lamp though it's thin body, sparks flying out from the wires.

"I SAID COME OUT YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Chromeskull didn't know it but behind a large pink door was Rose's room where Steven was hiding from the skeleton themed assassin, he could only cry for his fallen pet and from the threats of Chromeskull he was lucky that Rose's room was sound proof within the inside. Steven could cry as loud as his lungs could allow and Chromeskull wouldn't know.

"Alright…fine." Chromeskull said in a defeated tone, Steven stopped weeping for minute and placed his ear on the door.

"If you're not going to come out and face me, then I'm gonna make sure that your moms or whatever they are know that I was here."

*SMASH*

Steven jumped from the noises Chromeskull started to make, he started to trash Steven's own home and he felt completely powerless, it was fear that prevented him from doing anything.

*CRASH* *SMASH* *SLICE* *HACK*

Steven plugged his ears and tried to hold back more tears. After what felt like any eternity the noises of destruction stopped Steven however did not move from his crouched position.

"And I'll be taking these." Chromeskull spoke from the other side of the door. Steven didn't knew what he was taking but he didn't care, he just wanted him to leave.

1 Hour Later.

A whole hour has passed and Steven hasn't left Rose's room he sat their crouched in a feeble position. Trying to review everything that just happened. The man that the gems said held no threat almost killed him, succeeded in killing his pet, destroyed his house and stole something from it. He was…in every sense of the word scared. The Crystal Gems told him that he would be safe because they, including him were Gems and he was just a human. Then Steven heard a noise he was all too familiar, the sound of the Warp Pad staring up, the gems were finally back.

"Even if we were able to disable Blue Diamond's exoskeleton, how can possibly defend ourselves against…OH GOOD HEAVEN AND EARTH WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR HOUSE!?" Pearl yelled from the unimaginable state of their home. Steven ran out of Rose's room immediately to see them.

"GUUUUYS!" Steven yelled with unimaginable relief as he went to hug Garnet's leg.

"STEVEN!…what…what HAPPENED here!?" Pearl said practically shaking from witnessing the destruction. Steven didn't speak, he tightly hugged and dug his face into Garnet's leg small, whimpers coming from him.

"STEVEN!" Pearl screamed again demanding an answer. Garnet held out her hand signaling Pearl to stop, she crouched down and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Steven, can you tell us what happened." Garnet said in her calmest voice, Amethyst running behind Steven to put her hand on his back. Steven looked up, his face was completely red with large bags under his eyes. Pearl calmed down from seeing Steven in his distraught state.

"Steven?" Pearl whispered.

"It…was the man, the man did this." Steven said as he wiped his face.

"The guy from the video!?" Amethyst asked legitimately shocked.

"But that's not all." Steven said weakly as fresh tears started to leak from his eyes. Garnet wiped one from his face.

"What else did he do Steven?" Garnet said with Steven's face reflecting from her glasses.

"He…he…HE." Steven choked as he shook his fists with anger.

"HE KILLED LION!" Steven yelled with distraught. All three of the gems gasped from the news. Amethyst ran out of the temple and down the stares either to investigate or because she couldn't take the intensity.

"But how? that should be impossible!" Pearl said with disbelief.

"I was afraid of this." Garnet said fixing her glasses.

"Garnet?" Pearl said anxiously.

"You know how I'm able to foresee multiple possibilities of the future?" garnet asked both Pearl and Steven. Both said yes to her question.

"Their was one where he defeated Lion and I ignored it, I ignored it because I thought it was impossible even though my senses told me it was." Garnet said becoming visibly upset.

"It was my over self confidence that put you in danger and got Lion slain Steven. This is all my fault." Garnet said as she cupped Steven cheek with her hand. Steven looked down and put his hand on hers.

"GUYS!" Amethyst yelled as she came running back up the stairs. "Guys, Lion is okay!" Amethyst said as she stood at the now doorless entrance.

"WHAT!?" Steven yelled while Garnet goy up from her crouching position.

"Yeah, look!" Amethyst pulled out a pom-pom sized ball of pink fur, four small paws and a small, pink kitten face popped out.

"Meow" the little puffball mewed.

Steven smiled with tears in his eyes as he ran up to Amethyst and grabbed the small puffball that Lion has become.

"Lion, is that really you?" The chibified lion, which was more mane then Lion responded by licking Steven's nose. Steven smiled again and brought it into a light hug.

Pearl was smiling with relief to see Steven better, however she looked to Garnet to see her staring at the wall with her mouth gaping open.

"Garnet?" Pearl questioned with no response, she walked to her side to see what she was staring at and her face of curiosity molded into one of complete shock.

"NOOOOO!" Pearl screamed. Prompting Steven, with Chibi Lion in his hands and Amethyst to run to the other two gems, they all looked at the wall to see that their was nothing. But that was exactly the problem.

Rose's portrait and flag was stolen.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Man Vs. Gem**


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